GRGR 31: naughty Nalline

[kevin at limits.org]

The question I've always had about Mrs. Slothrop's letter is:  does she
have a _crush_ on Kennedy?  Has she had an affair with him?

The reason this is Important to me is much is made of evil fathers, evil
Broderick selling his son to the Faustian Jamf, but then we have this
woman getting giddy, drunk, and flirty with "a fellow Harvard parent"
while inquiring about her son's well-being.  The first few times I read
this passage, I glossed "dream" as "nightmare," but now I'm not so
sure.  There was a thread on this list a few months back about Pynchon's
mothers; well, here's Ma Slothrop.

On the other hand, at least Nalline shows some concern.

Re:  the PT-109 reference and Jack Kennedy's naval courage, he got into
the Navy without a medical examination (which he would have failed, due to
a combination of a bad back and Addison's disease), because he knew that a
future political career would depend greatly on a record of service in the
war.  'Twas his older brother, killed in the war, who was the hand-picked,
bred-from-birth successor the Kennedy political empire, and it was
apparently quite an issue for Jack that he Get His Chance as well.


Kevin Troy

"Hell hath no fury like the vast robot armies of a woman scorned."
--Futurama